Ronn Torossian on Racism in the Middle East

Racism seems to be the worst thing one can be accused of — except when it comes to the Jews.: : Could anyone imagine if Hindus were told they couldn’t live in an Indian neighborhood the uproar we would hear from the world? How about if blacks were banned from living in a white neighborhood? As CEO of: 5WPR, I can envision the outrage and headlines now.

But, indeed this week, there was “world outrage” when the democratic Jewish state of Israel decided that 3,000 new homes would be built in Jerusalem — the holiest Jewish city in the world. Why aren’t Jews free to live where they choose? Arabs live in Israel — yet no Jews are permitted to even visit Arab countries. Is that fair? Equal?

The land is legally owned by Jews, and hold your breath to the comment a senior Israeli government official made: “continued construction is done according to Israel’s strategic interests.”: : Jerusalem is Israel’s capital — and Israel does what is best for Israel. Imagine that?

A similar condemnation took place some years ago and: Cherna Moskowitz: who has invested in significant building projects in Jerusalem said: “This: seems to be a continuation of a 2,000-year-old habit of Jews being told where they can and cannot live. This spanned from the ghettos of medieval Europe, to severe zoning restrictions in czarist Russia and finally to the edicts of Nazism, where we were eventually told that we could not live at all. Can it be possible that we will accept any part of that today in our own nation? Jews should be able to live anywhere in the world.”

There is no democratic state in the world where people are told they can’t build somewhere because of their religion — and certainly the State of Israel shouldn’t be a place where they tell Jews where they can and cannot live.